LG Motion 4G (MetroPCS) review:
LG Motion 4G (MetroPCS)

Though front-facing video recording has fewer options, it still retains a good number of features. There are still the exposure meter, silly faces and background options, white balances, color effects, and audio muting feature. But there are only three video sizes (ranging from 480p to MMS).

For pictures taken outdoors in ample lighting, photo quality was perfectly adequate. Colors were bright and vivid, though small details like water ripples and blades of grass blurred together. With dim or indoor lighting, images were incredibly grainy and had lots of digital noise. Dark hues were hard to distinguish and lighter colors washed out easily. As for the front-facing camera, there was understandably some digital noise. The smaller number of megapixels did lead to more blurriness and poorer focus, but you could still make out faces easily.

Video recording was excellent. Recording ran smoothly for the most part, and there was no lag between the camera and my moving of the handset. Focusing was fast, objects looked clear and crisp, colors were true to life, and audio picked up well.

Performance
I tested the tri-band (850, 1900, 2100) LG Motion 4G in San Francisco. There were no problems with signal quality -- I didn't get any dropped calls, extraneous buzzing, or audio clipping in and out. Sound quality, however, was disappointing. Voices were audible, but muffled, as if my friends were speaking underneath a thin sheet. Though turning up the volume helped a bit, the maximum volume wasn't very loud. Likewise, my friends told me that I sounded muffled, too.

The output speakerphone quality was also disappointing. Calls, as well as music, were muffled and low, though I didn't hear any harsh tinniness. Turning the volume down helped somewhat; you could still hear what's being said, but it sounded stifled regardless.

LG Motion 4G call quality sample

Listen now:

MetroPCS' 4G LTE network isn't the most robust, but data speeds were impressive. Loading the CNET mobile site, for example, took an average of 8 seconds, while loading our full site took 19 seconds. The New York Times' full site took slightly shorter on average, clocking in at 14 seconds, and its mobile site took 5 seconds to load. ESPN's mobile site took 8 seconds on average, and its full site loaded in 16 seconds. The 22MB game Temple Run downloaded and installed in an average of 4 minutes, and Ookla showed me an average of 1.10Mbps down and 1.62Mbps up.

Conclusion
Though it comes with a lot of bloatware and doesn't take the highest-quality pictures, the LG Motion 4G is still a solid handset to consider. With its 4G LTE connection, zippy dual-core processor, and affordable price, the phone packs a lot of punch into a tiny frame. In addition, it's perfect for anyone who wants one of the latest Android OS phones without a contract.

Lynn La is a CNET editor who reviews and reports on all things mobile. She also writes about visual arts/design and the ways it intersects with tech. Before CNET, Lynn has also written for The Global Post, The Sacramento Bee, and Macworld.
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